PARIS, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- The five French nationals kidnapped by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb are believed to be alive, an official from the French foreign ministry said Wednesday.
The North African branch of al-Qaida claimed it kidnapped seven people, including five French nationals, near the Niger uranium mining town of Arlit last week.
In an audiotape broadcast by al-Jazeera, a spokesman for the terrorist group warned French officials against "any sort of stupidity."
AQIM in July announced that it beheaded Michel Germaneau after French authorities botched a raid to rescue the 78-year-old French engineer in Mali.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared war on AQIM for killing Germaneau.
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal told reporters Wednesday that the government in Paris had "not received proof of life but we have good reason to believe that the hostages are alive," the news agency France 24 reports
Around 80 members of the French Special Forces arrived in the region this week to search for the hostages. French Foreign Minister Bernhard Kouchner said on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meeting that Paris would "put all the means at our disposal for their liberation."
